How to Change EXIF Date and Time on a Photo
The date you see under a photo comes from an EXIF field written when the shutter fired — usually DateTimeOriginal, the same tag that tells you when a photo was taken. If a camera's clock was wrong, a scan has today's date, or a time zone shifted the timestamp, you can rewrite it. Pick your platform below. For a single photo the built-in tools are enough; for a whole folder or a time-zone shift, ExifTool does it in one command.
Fastest fix — set the capture date on one photo with ExifTool:
exiftool "-DateTimeOriginal=2023:07:04 14:30:00" photo.jpgWhich Date Field Are You Changing?
A photo carries more than one date. Most "wrong date" problems are about the first one, but it helps to know they exist so an edit does not leave two of them disagreeing; our guide on how to read EXIF data shows how to view each field first.
| EXIF field | What it means |
|---|---|
| DateTimeOriginal | When the shutter fired. This is "Date taken" in Windows and the date galleries sort by. |
| DateTimeDigitized | When the image was digitized. Identical to the original on a digital camera; differs on a scan. ExifTool calls this CreateDate. |
| DateTime | Last modified date, updated whenever the file is edited. ExifTool calls this ModifyDate. |
If you only fix DateTimeOriginaland leave the others alone, some apps will still show the old date because they read a different field. The clean move is to set all three to the same value — the built-in apps below do this for you, and ExifTool's AllDates shortcut does it in one shot.
Windows
File Explorer (no install). Right-click the photo, choose Properties, open the Details tab, and click the value next to Date taken. Type the corrected date and time, click Apply, then OK. This rewrites DateTimeOriginal inside the file.
Two limits worth knowing: the Details tab edits JPEG and a few other formats but is greyed out for many RAW files and PNGs, and it exposes only "Date taken" — it will not touch the modified-date field. For anything beyond a one-off, use ExifTool.
ExifTool (batches, precise control).Download the Windows build of ExifTool, then from a Command Prompt in the photo's folder:
REM Set the capture date on one photo (year:month:day hour:min:sec)
exiftool "-DateTimeOriginal=2023:07:04 14:30:00" photo.jpg
REM Set all three date fields at once
exiftool "-AllDates=2023:07:04 14:30:00" photo.jpg
REM Do it for every JPEG in the folder
exiftool "-AllDates=2023:07:04 14:30:00" -ext jpg .ExifTool saves a photo.jpg_original backup by default. Add -overwrite_original once you trust the result.
Mac
Photos app (no install). Select the photo, then choose Image ▸ Adjust Date and Time from the menu bar. Enter the corrected date and time and click Adjust. When you export the photo afterwards (File ▸ Export ▸ Export Photo, with metadata included), the new value is written to DateTimeOriginal in the file.
Preview.Preview's Inspector (Tools ▸ Show Inspector ▸ the i / EXIF tab) is the quickest way to reada photo's dates on a Mac, but it is read-only — it displays DateTimeOriginal without letting you edit it. Use it to confirm a change, not to make one.
ExifTool (Terminal). Install via Homebrew (brew install exiftool) or the macOS package, then:
# Set all date fields on one photo
exiftool "-AllDates=2023:07:04 14:30:00" photo.jpg
# Shift every photo forward by 1 hour (fixes a wrong time zone)
exiftool "-AllDates+=0:0:0 1:0:0" -overwrite_original *.jpg
# Shift back by 2 hours
exiftool "-AllDates-=0:0:0 2:0:0" -overwrite_original *.jpgThe shift form is what you want when a whole trip's photos are off by the same offset — you correct all of them without typing a date for each.
iPhone (iOS)
On iOS 15 and later the Photos app edits the date directly. Open the photo, tap Edit is not needed — instead swipe up or tap the info button (ⓘ), then tap Adjust next to the date. Set the corrected date, time, and time zone and tap Done.
This updates the photo's capture date across your library and iCloud. When you later share or export the photo with metadata, the adjusted DateTimeOriginal travels with the file. To change several photos together, select them in the library first, then Adjust Date & Time from the menu.
Android
In Google Photos, open the photo and swipe up (or tap the ⋮ menu) to show its details. Tap Edit date & time, set the correct values, and save. For a batch, long-press to select multiple photos, open the menu, and choose Edit date & time — you can set a single date or shift all of them by an offset.
One caveat: Google Photos stores the corrected date in your library. Whether it is written back into the EXIF of the file on your device depends on the app version, so verify the downloaded file if the embedded date matters. For a guaranteed on-disk edit, run ExifTool on the file from a computer.
Verify the New Date Stuck
After any edit, confirm the file itself changed — not just the gallery's display. Drop the photo into our EXIF viewer and look at the date fields. The viewer reads the file locally in your browser, so nothing is uploaded, and it shows DateTimeOriginal alongside the other timestamps so you can see whether all of them now agree.
Check the capture date you just wrote.
See DateTimeOriginal and every other EXIF field in your browser — nothing leaves your device.
Open the EXIF ViewerRelated Guides
EXIF Viewer
Confirm the capture date and every other tag in a photo, right in your browser.
When Was This Photo Taken?
Find the original capture date before you decide what to correct it to.
How to Read EXIF Data
Where the date fields live and how to view them on any device.
What Is EXIF Data?
A reference for every EXIF field, including the three date tags and how they get written.
iPhone Photo Date / Location Wrong
Why timestamps drift on an iPhone — time zones, stale fixes, and the fixes.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I change the date a photo was taken?
Edit the photo's DateTimeOriginalEXIF field. On Windows, right-click the file, open Properties ▸ Details, and edit "Date taken." On a Mac use Photos ▸ Image ▸ Adjust Date and Time; on iPhone and Android use the Adjust / Edit date option in the Photos or Google Photos app. For batches or time-zone shifts, ExifTool sets the date from the command line — for example exiftool "-AllDates=2023:07:04 14:30:00" photo.jpg.
Can you edit EXIF data?
Yes. EXIF is metadata stored inside the image file, and it can be read, changed, or removed. Built-in tools like Windows File Explorer and the Mac and iPhone Photos apps edit common fields such as the capture date, while ExifTool can write essentially any EXIF, IPTC, or XMP tag. Editing metadata does not re-compress or degrade the picture itself.
What is the difference between DateTimeOriginal and DateTimeDigitized?
DateTimeOriginal is when the shutter fired — the date most apps show and sort by. DateTimeDigitized (called CreateDate in ExifTool) is when the image was digitized, which is identical for a digital camera but differs for a scan of an old print. Setting both to the same value avoids apps showing two different dates.
How do I fix a whole batch of photos that are off by the same amount?
Use ExifTool's shift syntax rather than typing a date for each file. For example, exiftool "-AllDates+=0:0:0 1:0:0" *.jpg moves every photo forward by one hour — handy when a camera was set to the wrong time zone for an entire trip. Use -= to shift backward.
Will changing the EXIF date change the file's modified date?
Those are separate things. The EXIF date lives inside the image; the file system's created and modified dates are kept by the operating system. Editing EXIF does not have to touch the file system dates, and vice versa. If you need the file's timestamps to match too, set them separately — ExifTool can even copy the EXIF date onto the file with -FileModifyDate.
How do I confirm the new date was actually written?
Open the edited file in an EXIF viewer and check the date fields. Our EXIF viewer reads the photo locally in your browser and shows DateTimeOriginalalongside the other timestamps, so you can verify the file itself changed rather than just the gallery's display.